‘We still have time to make a difference’: VP touts climate change investment in Florida
One week after massive flooding shut down Fort Lauderdale, Vice President Kamala Harris came to Miami to tout new federal cash to help protect Florida’s coasts from storms and flooding.
“The climate crisis represents a profound threat — as we all know — to our nation and to the world,” she said. “We still have time to make a difference.”
Harris spoke at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science on Friday to announce a new wave of investment from the federal government into climate resilience. Florida has a significant cut of the total $561 million in recommended funding through NOAA’s Climate Ready Coasts initiative.
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis, who also spoke at the event, praised the federal funding as a solution to a problem the nation’s coast faces. He called last week’s massive flooding a “wake-up call” to the modern-day impacts of climate change in South Florida.
“I’m not sure South Florida — or all of Florida — has awakened to the reality,” he said. “If we do not harden our infrastructure, if we do not plan for our future, there will be no future.”
The vice president said that not only will these projects create more local jobs, but they are also meant to protect coasts from the damaging effects of storm surge, hurricanes and flooding. Avoiding that damage means savings for local businesses, she said.
“That’s more money in their pocket to hire new employees and spread around the community,” she said.
Florida’s cut of the funding, $79 million, largely focuses on coral reef restoration, but covers 16 total projects, including three in South Florida:
▪ $7 million for Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium to replant coral fragments in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
▪ $6.9 million to replant and rebuild coral reefs in Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, including an educational outreach program for Girl Scouts and student interns.
▪ $497,000 for the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science to train high school students to restore coral reefs, mangroves and beach dunes in Haulover Park.
The funding also covers a University of Florida program focused on innovations in picking up marine trash in Pasco and Levy counties, cleaning up 200,000 tires in Tampa Bay and restoring oyster reefs in the Gulf of Mexico.
These projects were all funded from a combination of the bipartisan infrastructure law and the inflation reduction act, the Biden administration’s signature legislation aimed at fighting climate change.
At the Friday press event, NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad said these projects will improve water quality and restore shoreline habitat across the United States.
“We are investing in America and rebuilding infrastructure so it is ready for climate change and protecting coastal communities to ensure that they continue to thrive now and into the future,” he said.
On Friday, President Joe Biden signed an executive order promoting environmental justice, in part by ordering government agencies to take into account how their actions affect Black, brown and minority communities. It also requires federal agencies to warn nearby communities and hold public meetings if toxic substances are released from federal facilities.
“We all know that the climate crisis does not impact all communities equally. Poor communities, rural communities and communities of color are the most vulnerable and the least able to recover,” Harris said.
This story was originally published April 21, 2023 at 6:15 PM.
